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CNN Today

Government Issues New Growth Charts for Children

Aired May 30, 2000 - 1:16 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's a ritual of parenthood, check with your pediatrician on how your child measures up in terms of height and weight. Well, now, for the first time in decades, the federal government is updating these standardized growth charts.

And as CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen reports, the new charts look entirely different.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: Yes, tall and skinny, look at that. You are just in the fifth percentile on your weight.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The problem is, most children in the United States today are not skinny. And that's why today, the Centers for Disease Control is releasing new pediatric growth charts for newborns through age 20, so that the percentile rankings are more than just numbers, more than just trivia for parents. The goal: to help identify children in danger of becoming overweight.

Here's how the new charts will work: in addition to height and weight, every child over age two will be assigned a body mass index, or BMI, a ratio of weight to height. A BMI above the 95th percentile means the child is overweight. A BMI between the 85th and 95th percentile means the child is at risk for becoming overweight.

ROBERT KUCZMARSKI, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: And this is a new tool that can be used by health care professionals to identify children who are at risk for becoming overweight. And if we can identify children who are overweight at an early age, then we can institute preventive measures.

COHEN (on camera): So once a pediatrician has made the diagnosis, then what? It's an uphill battle, considering that today kids have at their disposal a huge array of fattening foods.

(voice-over): And the problem isn't just food.

DR. SUSAN BAKER, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: If you just look at our current lives, they're very much different than they were 20 or 25 years ago. We didn't have as much computers, as much television. COHEN: Dr. Baker, head of the Nutrition Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says reversing the trend towards obesity will take lots of education, and that the new charts are one small step.

BAKER: The solutions will not be simple. We won't have a shot or a pill or anything.

COHEN: She adds that the new charts do have one shortcoming: they might not apply to athletes who weigh a lot because of muscle, not fat. But other than that, she says the new charts are a welcome tool to help diagnose a problem that shows no signs of stopping.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: What a good idea, Elizabeth. I know I get my chart for my toddler and, like, I can't tell really anything.

COHEN: Right, a little bit confusing.

ALLEN: Yes, so how can parents use this new information?

COHEN: Well, right now, the best thing to do is to talk to your pediatrician. Because the pediatricians will have the charts pretty soon and they're the ones who are going to be able to use them. Because it gets a little bit confusing. Now they -- the CDC has actually put the charts up on the Internet and you can go to their site, CDC.gov, and you can follow the prompts and you can see the new charts.

Now the charts are different for boys and for girls, and different for different ages. Now they don't have all the bugs out entirely, because it's only been up for three hours. But eventually you will be able to put in your child's height and weight, get a BMI, and then figure out what percentile your child is in for BMI.

Now what we do have is we've mocked up sort of a little model that's looking at your average 6-year-old boy. And what that does is that tells you that your average 6-year-old boy is 3'9" inches tall. If weighs 49 to 53 pounds, he is at risk for becoming overweight. If he is over 53 pounds, then he is actually clinically overweight.

ALLEN: So that, this chart will give you that information.

COHEN: That's right, eventually, that's what the Internet site will give you and that's what your pediatrician can give you now.

ALLEN: And if your pediatrician's really good they will give you a chart on better eating habits, hopefully.

COHEN: That's right, exactly, and exercise and all those good things.

ALLEN: OK, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks Elizabeth.

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